Hearing Aids aren't like Glasses

Each day I wake up, put on my trusty hearing aid in my left ear and my trusty Cochlear implant in my right ear.

Then I go about my day.

I'll usually get stares from people who don't know me (because, mom bun), and I'll often catch them looking one of my hearing assistive devices.

Once in a blue moon, someone will ask me: "so hey I guess you can hear me Ok then?"

"No, not really" I reply. Then go on to say, "my hearing aids aren't like glasses. They don't cure hearing loss." Then I leave the conversation there, in hopes that they'd ask more questions. Most of the time, I get a shrug and we part ways.

Today, in a FaceBook forum, I saw a fellow hard of hearing (HOH) person vent out their frustration on the same point: that hearing aids, cochlear implants and what have you actually 'cure' hearing ailments, or are subject to misconception that they are a one-size fix all solution.

Truth is hearing loss is way more complex than that. Infinitesimally so. For example, does a child hear the same way an adult does? Likely not. No one really hears the same way. It's a spectrum that's as varied as our fingerprints.

Ironically, today I got these four amazing videos that might help explain the varying degrees of hearing loss better. Mine is in the Sensorineural Hearing Loss (Profound, Inner Ear) category. I'd recommend watching the first video to gain a good understanding how our ears function.

1) Typical Process of Hearing Ear Animation 
2) Sensorineural Hearing Loss Ear Animation & Simulations 
3) Conductive Hearing Loss Ear Animation & Simulations 

4) ANSD (Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder) Ear Animation & Simulations 

All four videos are absolutely well done, and there's even speech simulations shown in each video to show what speech might sound like to a person with a specific type of hearing loss. Congratulations to the BC Early Hearing Program for a great presentation!